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Bloomberg The US merchandise-trade deficit widened in January as imports climbed to a record high, signalling a continuing recovery in demand from American consumers. The deficit grew to $83.7 billion from $83.2 billion in December, according to Commerce Department data. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had called for an $83 billion shortfall in January. Imports rise 1.1% to $218.9 billion, ...

Bloomberg The UK is set to create a 5 billion-pound ($7 billion) grant program to help businesses that have been hard hit by the pandemic. The ‘Restart’ program will mostly apply to retail, hospitality and leisure — the industries that have been impacted most by the series of lockdowns imposed in the last year. The plan will be announced on ...

Bloomberg Norway’s $1.3 trillion wealth fund, the world’s biggest, is handicapped in chasing its environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment goals by the political process, according to Global SWF. The lengthy decision-making that determines which asset classes Norway’s investing behemoth can buy puts it at a disadvantage compared with smaller money managers, “in particular” regarding ESG, according to Diego Lopez, ...

Bloomberg European credit markets have just completed a round-trip recovery from peak pandemic fear. Borrowing costs are retreading pre-crisis levels, with confidence in an economic recovery sparking double-digit gains in the riskiest debt. Healthier balance sheets are turning 2021 into the year of the rising star as more companies re-establish investment-grade credentials — the reversal of 2020’s swell of fallen-angel ...

BEIJING / WAM The United Arab Emirates Ambassador to China, Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri, has praised China’s achievements of eradicating absolute poverty despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The achievements showed the country’s high-standard planning, and will have ripple effect globally and benefit the whole world, the ambassador told Xinhua, the official state-run press agency of the People’s Republic of China, in ...

Dubai / WAM The Ministry of Community Development (MoCD), in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP), continued to carry out the vaccination campaign for senior citizens which was launched last January against Covid-19 all over the UAE. Till February 27, the campaign included Ajman, Dubai, Al Fujairah, Um Al Qaiwain and Ras Al Khaimah. The vaccination campaign ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) has stepped up its efforts in the fight to combat human trafficking throughout 2021, against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, by organising numerous training courses on this topic, with the aim of building the capacity of the judiciary members, officers of the court and all parties involved in the ...

Dubai / WAM Dubai Customs plays an essential role in facilitating passenger and baggage traffic in general, with more efforts and measures taken during the spread of the pandemic. These extraordinary efforts stand behind the success of Dubai International Airport globally and boost the status of Dubai as a global hub for travel and tourism. Latest figures showed that Dubai ...

Bloomberg Chinese social media titan ByteDance Ltd plans to hire an additional 13,000 employees this year for its education unit as the company aims to grab a bigger slice of the country’s booming online learning market. ByteDance, the owner of the short video app TikTok, said that it will hire 10,000 educational professionals, including tutors and course designers, in China ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden said US airstrikes in Syria that killed militants linked to Iran were a warning to the Islamic Republic to be cautious as its proxies challenge American allies in the Mideast. Asked while visiting a National Guard vaccination site in Houston what message the strike was intended to send to Iran, Biden said: “You can’t act with ...